


Liar Liar

by L_Sincline



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Denial of Feelings, F/M, How Do I Tag, Original Character-centric, POV Original Character, blade of marmora
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-21 23:43:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13751664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/L_Sincline/pseuds/L_Sincline
Summary: Armor on fire. Azlath said she didn't know the whereabouts of her mother and brother, the traitors. But this makes Azlath a traitor as well, because she had almost gone with them. When Azlath was turned over to Haggar as a child by her father, her life was ultimately ruined. Mother and brother 'missing', Father dead, Azlath was left to be an assistant to the druids even though she wanted to be a pilot. Someone catches view of her skills, and suddenly she's back on the path she wanted to be on.





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue.

The deafening silence of the sleeping base was enough to give the Galra Solider a heart attack. She tightly gripped her son's hand, dragging him as quietly down the hall as physically possible. Though he had fought for a moment, demanding that they force his sister to come, Amorath knew that it wasn't right. A tugging in her heartstrings told her that her son's twin needed to stay here for a reason, and that this wouldn't be the last time they'd see her. At the sound of mechanical marching, Amorath pushed her son, Kazul, into a nook, hiding him behind her as they pushed flesh up against the wall. The automated Galra soldiers passed without trouble, and soon rounded the corner. This went on for many more dobashes, leaving Amorath to rot in her anger and guilt. Anger at herself for leaving her only daughter behind with her horrible father, guilt for not realizing the mess the Galra Empire was in before birthing the twins. A small computer chip had been left for her by a higher up, who's name she thought to be Thace, after he had stopped by her room one night. She didn't know what the computer chip held on it, but Amorath knew it held directions to where she should go next. Soon, they were at the pod bay. Quietly (they seemed to do everything quietly nowadays) she shoved Kazul into a pod and soon climbed in after, taking a few brief moments to rethink what she was about to do before launching. She was leaving all she had ever known, bringing her only son with her to do something that even she wasn't sure how to do, survive out in the deep space. She was leaving her daughter, the light of her life, her sweet little Azlath, a beautiful daughter who she doubted could do any harm, the polar opposite of rowdy, boorish, Kazul. Amorath launched the pod. She knew Azlath would have loved this, the girl had voiced her desires to be a pilot, Amorath hoped dearly that she would get her wish, she wanted nothing but good for her only daughter.   
"Mom?" Amorath perked, looking away from the control panel and over to the shape behind her that spoke in his own, deep, raspy voice. "Where are we going?" He requested, and though his brows were furrowed, and his gaze was angry, Amorath could see the pain flashing in his eyes. Without an answer, Amorath pushed the small chip she had been given into the control system, causing a new map to come up in stead of the old one that merely tracked their location. She read the small, almost barely noticeable script at the bottom before turning back to her son.   
"The Blade of Marmora, Kazul, that's where we'll find our new life."


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One.

The weight of the armor was hardly noticeable any more, in fact, it was noticeably lighter than the robes she occasionally wore when permitted to take place in actual Druid activities or merely to make it seem like she actually worked. All those years ago, her father, a Galra who cared about ranks and nothing else, had handed her over to the witch Haggar. Azlath recalled it vividly, almost as if it had only happened a few ticks ago.   
'I need to focus on my job, I only wish to help the empire.' He had spewed out lusciously, merely kissing at the King's feet. Lord Zarkon had taken it upon himself to assign her to Haggar, not caring much for one mere, quiet observant female Galra. And in Azlath's opinion, Haggar cared even less. Azlath had always shown and voiced desire to be a pilot, and yet here she was, a mere assistant to the druids. She merely watched over what they were doing to assure they stayed safe, occasionally healed them (though most of the time they could do this themselves.), and ran errands for them. In the rare occasion that Azlath was permitted to join in and learn from the Druids, she wore their heavy robes and white, four eyed mask. Based on what she had learned, everyone had a bit of magic in them, most species just tended to have less, or harder to draw out magic. Azlath knew she didn't have much magic, it wasn't in the Galra nature to have much, but after teachings from the Druids, she learned slight healing, an ability to levitate small objects, and how to administer small shocks and bolts of lightning. Though she was a Druid assistant, and that's all she would likely ever be, Azlath often snuck off to practice her piloting skills. This was, in fact, what she was coming back from now. After getting a hail from Haggar, she had quickly returned from space, docking the small fighter ship she had taken, and rushing back inside. Her metal armor tapped rather obnoxiously on the floor, tapping getting quicker as she sped up after seeing a Druid.   
"Excuse me!" She called out. "Xerux!" Azlath called out he Druid's name. Sure, they mostly looked the same, but she'd worked with them for so long that she had begun to pick up in their individual mannerisms. Xerux was a bit taller, so he tended to take wider steps, along with the fact that he often folded his hands behind his back. Luckily, Xerux ceased his walking and turned slowly to face Azlath as she finally caught up.   
"What?" He asked harshly, clearly not happy to be interrupted.   
"I got hailed by Haggar, do you know her location?" Azlath straightened and stood at attention, the Druids were her superiors after all. Though luckily for her, a few groups in the base considered her a superior since she technically worked as a Druid, though it wasn't often that she got galrans coming to her for orders.   
"She was headed towards the Lord's chambers the last I saw her. You better hurry if she hailed you." Xerux warned before sauntering off again, heavy cloaks sweeping behind him. Azlath walked speedily towards where Haggar supposedly was. It was nearly suspicious, Haggar had been visiting the King's chambers nearly every day multiple times, and the King was no where to be seen. It had been far to long, Azlath had seen Haggar giving out orders, and Azlath herself worried about the condition of their leader. As she reached her destination, Azlath paused to catch her breath before straightening up to knock lightly on the giant doors. Much to her surprise, the doors were flung open, and in front of Azlath stood a neutral faced Haggar. But the assistant couldn't stop the small gasp that escaped her mouth when she spotted what was behind Haggar. Lord Zarkon, laying on what she would consider a medical table, tubes and various things coming out of his body, certainly not in the best condition. Azlath was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a sharp pain across her cheek.   
"You fool!" She heard Haggar shriek as the heavy doors finally closed. At the pained feeling of Haggar's Lightning, Azlath groaned in pain and sunk into the wall, shutting her eyes tightly as the electricity coursed through her body painfully. Azlath inhaled sharply as the pain ceased and she was lifted up by the neck with a slender hand.   
"Not one word of what you've seen comes out of your mouth." The witch spat out as Azlath opened her eyes, but kept them narrowed.   
"Or else I will finish you myself." Haggar threatened, dropping Azlath unceremoniously.   
"Change into your Druid robes, we have a special guest coming." Haggar demanded before walking away with a flourish. Azlath took a few needed gulps of air and staggered as she stood up straight on her own. As she staggered back to her quarters, the occasional guard would spare her a glance of curiosity, but they'd soon look away. She stumbled into her quarters and made sure the door shut before taking the nearest reflective surface and looking into it. Burns marred her face, and Azlath could only imagine what the rest of her looked like. This wasn't the first time this happened, Azlath just tended to heal her face burns with her small amount of magic, but she didn't this time. She'd be wearing a mask anyways, so what was the point? Azlath unhooked and slid the armor off with practiced ease, leaving on the tight, black, heat absorbing under suit that most soldiers wore under their armor. Though the suit's sleeves only went down to her mid bicep, leaving her now burned arms exposed. Quickly, Azlath slid on the heavy Druid robes, leaving the hood down. She slid into come shoes that had softer soles as to not clack down the hallways in her heavy metal boots. Azlath picked up the Druid mask, observing the pointed, beak like nature of it and the four, yellow eyes. A demanding knock on her door interrupted.   
"Hurry up! We need to get going!" The voice yelled, muffled by the heavy metal door. How funny, it sounded like Xerux. Azlath quickly placed the mask over her face, view now tinted yellow, and hefted the heavy hood over her head, feeling her ears bend at the pressure, though it was only uncomfortable for a mere moment. Azlath rushed out the door and followed Xerux quickly as he began walking and caught up to him.   
"What's going on?" She asked quietly, careful to as only him as the other Druids slowly began drifting into the group, Haggar at the head, leading them foreword confidently.   
"The damn fools already made a speech, in the middle of the battle arena no less, but he still has to be officially crowned. Apparently Lord Zarkon wanted him to come lead for a while, see what he could do." Xerux muttered back. Azlath's eyes widened in surprise under the mask. Due to what she now knew, there was no way Lord Zarkon could've called for a successor to step up for a bit, since he was currently under the weather to say the least. That meant Haggar must've hailed for this successor to come foreword for a bit. Azlath wondered who it could be. Couldn't be the exile, Lotor, could it? They cast him out long ago, would Haggar really swallow her pride and invite him back? Perhaps she would, it was a desperate time after all.   
"Who? Lotor?" Azlath asked Xerux sharply.   
"You best refer to him as Prince Lotor now." A female Druid, who Azlath recognized as Regali, turned slightly to reply to Azlath quietly. Her tone held an angry edge, just as Xerux's had. It seemed that not many were particularly happy about the Prince's return then. But Azlath could only imagine that they wondered where Zarkon was, and why he was passing off such an important role. They soon arrived at the large, show throne room. The room was often used for rallying of the important Galra citizens and announcements from Lord Zarkon himself. Though perhaps it was bad for her to feel this way, Azlath adored the sound of the Galran's jumping to their feet and aggressively moving to stand at attention, the strong shout of 'V'repit sa!' As the group of Druids entered the huge room. Sure, she was not much of a Druid to the other Druids, only a mere assistant, but these Garland didn't know that. To them, she was as superior as the rest of them. It felt good, to feel as if she had any power at all. The group climbed the steps to stand evenly on the platform next to the thrones, standing silently and looking ahead. The Galrans around them soon settled down again, falling out of their position and sitting back down as Haggar stood infront of the throne with narrowed eyes, clearly waiting for the Prince to make his appearance. It took a few ticks, sure, but soon the large doors had been pushed open by two guards to reveal the Prince himself. Azlath caught Haggar's scowl out of the corner of her eye as she realized the Prince hadn't changed out of his battle ware, and held no proof of any royalty at all. The only thing that could lead you to pick him up as Galra, was the purple skin and yellow eyes. The clambering sound of the Galran's was thunderous once again as they stood and saluted. If they already respected him this much, Azlath supposed that his little speech in the arena that Xerux had spoken about must've been quite affective. The Prince regally made his way down the aisle, tail ends of his armor flowing out behind him, along with the long white hair that seemed to be pressed back, only one stray chunk of hair breaking free to the front of his face. He held a cold gaze on Haggar as she stepped aside to allow him to sit. After the Galrans had settled down, the Prince stood to begin a speech, but Azlath found herself not truly paying attention. He spoke of getting their allies to trust them, to bring a new respect to the process. To be truthful, it sounded as if it could work. Soon, the speech was over, and Haggar gave a silent flick of the wrist to indicate to flank around the Prince as they walked. Azlath easily fell into place in the small group, taking up the rear as they walked out of the room, the other Galrans sitting and waiting patiently for them to leave. As soon as the heavy doors shut behind her, Azlath was caught off guard by the snap of her name.   
"Azlath!" Haggar turned quickly to face her.   
"Y-yes?" Azlath stood straighter, cursing herself for stuttering.   
"Lead the Prince to his quarters." Haggar demanded before turning ad walking away, a few of the Druids following behind obediently.  
"Ah- but-" she attempted to call after quietly, but was saved as Regali whispered where the room was next to her ear before walking off as well. Azlath felt her cheeks flare in embarrassment as she realized the Prince stood there with a smirk of amusement, present for her clearly making a fool out of herself.   
"You're not a Druid." The Prince spoke snarkily as the rest of the Druids finally left.   
"That's not the matter at hand. Follow me." She spoke, hard enough to be a demand. She heard a chuckle of amusement, but he soon followed after, much to Azlath's relief. Thankfully, there was no more attempt at conversation. The twisting hallways were often confusing, but luckily Azlath made it to her destination, though tensing when she spotted Haggar waiting outside the door. Azlath halted and let the Prince pass, cringing inwardly as Haggar stepped foreword to her again, though confused as she heard the doors to the Prince's chambers open automatically, yet when she glanced over, he stood in the doorframe, watching with interest.   
"I gather that one of the other Druids told you the location, how kind of them." Haggar spoke quietly to Azlath, voice holding a dangerous edge. With a swift movement, Azlath felt the heavy Hood slide off her head once the mask was tugged off and thrown to the floor.   
"You usually heal your burns, you thought you didn't need to today?" Haggar antagonized. Azlath hated herself in that moment, it was foolish of her to cease doing something she always did. Though out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the Prince's face light up in surprise.   
"I had assumed that you would have been so kind as to allow me to wear my mask back to my chambers and not attempt to make a fool of me in front of my fellow Galrans. I now see I thought wrong." Azlath spoke boldly, yellow eyes narrowing in anger. She knew she had made a mistake by speaking so boldly, especially when the feeling of the slap across her face was intensified by the unhealed burns.   
"Don't speak to me as if-" Haggar began harshly.   
"That's quite enough. It's rather unbecoming of you to punish what I'm assuming is an assistant. You're treating her as if she's a slave." The Prince spoke from his door. Azlath raised a brow in surprise as Haggar turned to speak to the Prince, but she waved a hand to dismiss Azlath, and she gladly left. Replacing the mask and hood, she scurried off to her chambers with an urgent disposition.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Azlath happily removed the robe and mask before beginning to heal her face, ready to correct the wounds that had been inflicted. Taking a deep breath, Azlath held her hands close to her face, closing her eyes as she concentrated on pulling the magic out from whatever corners of her body that she could. Though magic typically came from the core of the body, species with not a lot of magic typically had it distributed, as strange as that sounds. Soon Azlath felt the magic flood through her fingertips and to the surface of her face. Depending on what it was used for, Azlath had learned that magic would feel different. When inflicting pain, it boiled and burned, when moving and lifting, it was cool like ice, and when healing, it was pleasantly warm and welcoming. It wasn't long before Azlath felt her magic fully drain, leaving her a bit more tired than before. Now, at least, she could fully take in what had happened. Surprisingly, the Prince had defended her, though she got the overpowering feeling that it was merely to spite Haggar, the two didn't seem to share a good relationship anyways. Though Azlath supposed she could recognize it as a nice gesture, but it certainly wouldn't make her life easier. Either way, Azlath no longer wanted to be bound to her room. So, sliding on the armor that had been issued to her so long ago, she headed out. Azlath did this rather often, so looking casual was no real issue for her. Giving respectful nods to those she past, stopping to acknowledge her superiors, she really did make it seem like she was supposed to be out here. But as soon as she made it to the ship bay, she stole the same ship she usually did, and headed out. Azlath often doubted that she was truly sneaking out, she had a deep buried suspicion that a higher up knew, and merely let her get away with it, but she'd never know. Azlath grinned softly as the space ingulfed her, leaving the base behind. She had pledged her loyalty to the Galran empire long ago, but that didn't mean that she enjoyed staying in the main base and working all day like some others did. Azlath rather envied those who got to go out and fight, not because she wanted to be a valiant hero, but because she just wanted to get out. Out here, she was relaxed and alone, perfect conditions to merely get away from the base for a bit. Of course, her peace was short lived as another, larger ship, seemed to warp a bit in front of and above her. It looked Galran, but it was certainly not designed like any Galran ship she'd seen before. The tech it seemed to possess was too high class for a rebel fighter base, and Azlath recalled being told that the Altean ship was white, not this washed out black.   
"Halt. State your name and mission." A feminine voice came through from the ship, and Azlath froze in her spot as she got the notification that whoever this was was requesting access to speak through a video connection, most likely to get a good view of her face. Azlath quickly swiped the connection request away from her main screen, declining it with vigor as she tried to remember what exactly this ship reminded her of. The colors were familiar, and she shut out the voice as it spoke again.   
"If you do not answer within the next twenty ticks, we will open fire." Azlath grimaced as she recognized the colors of the ship correlated with the armor Haggar had sneered at the Prince for wearing earlier, this must be his own central command ship, meaning the speaker must be some sort of General. Azlath had come too far to merely allow herself to be recognized now, so gripping the controls hard, she took a deep breath, and then proceeded to accelerate as fast ash she could, spinning to glide under the ship and past it. It was only moments before a much better upgraded fighter was out after her, firing at will. Galra fighters were not the best in any circumstance, but with a half competent pilot, they could be passable. Dodging was not easy, especially since the one after her seemed to be far past a decent pilot, someone who had actual training at the very least. Azlath made sure to keep her speed up, luring the attacker to come full speed after her, and once it seemed that she had made her attacker pick up enough speed, Azlath dropped and halted, allowing the attacker to fly over her head. Though she thought it might help her, the attacker's ship certainly held more upgrades than she could have imagined. Three hundred and sixty degree wings? Insanity at its finest. Azlath's attacker was soon on her tail again as she sped away, perhaps beginning to panic a small bit. So, she formulated a plan in her head. There was a planet coming up, if she flew close enough, the gravitational pull would allow her to gain speed. She could then eject out of the fighter, and flip to land on top of the other. A risky move, sure, but then the main ship wouldn't be able to risk firing at her, and the fighter wouldn't be able to reach her. Veering off, Athlaz narrowed her eyes as the planets gravity began to take her, frowning as she fully calculated the risk she was taking. The fighter followed her, just as planned, and Azlath prepared for launch. She knew that she had to hit this just right, or else it would be death by falling for her. So when the fighter behind her was just close enough, she pulled away from the controls, and ejected. Azlath threw her body weight backwards, curving an arch over the gap between her ship and the attacker's. She reached foreword, bringing her body straight again, and soon fell onto the attacker's fighter. Though it hurt, she dug her clawed hands into the ship's outer layer, laying as flat to it as physically possible as she finally felt her helmet send the automatic glass down to feed her whatever oxygen was in the suit. The fighter jerked as it flew away from the now falling one and back up into space. Though the glass was tinted to heavily to see through, Azlath knew that whoever was in there was looking up at her, perhaps wondering how to shake her off. But Azlath was surprised when the fighter merely returned to it's main ship to dock, and she grimaced at what was to come as the ship docked. She only looked up and released her grip at the sound of other running towards the location, and the glass hissing as it lifted away to reveal its pilot.   
"I'll get the intruder!" Azlath froze as she looked up, the glass covering her own mouth finally disappearing as she breathed in clean air, looking on in shock as the female who spoke seemed to be some sort of larger, clearly stronger alien species.   
"Now hold on, Zethrid." Azlath grimaced in recognition as the next voice spoke. "I'd rather like to know what a Druid is doing flying around in a stolen ship." She looked down only to confirm her suspicions, it was indeed the Prince, surely, she was done for now.   
"Now then, come on down from there. Surely you don't intend on staying there forever." He spoke again, beckoning for Azlath to hop down from the top of the ship. He sounded almost... sarcastic, when he spoke. But Azlath merely Sighted quietly and pried her claws away from the fighter's surface, sliding down the side to stand on the ground. As her heavy boots hit the ground, she reached up and lifted her helmet off, feeling her ears spring back into place after being confined by the heavy metal helmet. Azlath carefully studied the others behind the Prince. First, the one who had nearly attacked her, Zethrid she had been called, Second, one who was brightly colored, almost chameleon like, seemed to be smirking and giggling lightly, the third, one who seemed to be observing Azlath the same way she was observing her, skin toned blue with more blue hair, and finally, a reptile like one, seemingly blind with a rather strange cat perched on her shoulder.   
"So, care to explain why you were out here? Sent by Haggar, I must assume." Lotor spoke disdainfully.   
"No!" Azlath shot back, narrowing her eyes "Haggar wouldn't trust me with something like that anyways. I'm just out here to get away from the main base." She spoke carefully. Of course, she was sure her next accusation would be of being a traitor.   
"You must do this often. You certainly don't get that good at piloting after just one time." Azlath tensed as she was called out.   
"I wanted to be a pilot, but after I was handed over to Haggar I didn't get a remote choice." She clamped her mouth shut after she spoke, Azlath had spilled a bit more than she had wanted to.   
"I see." He replied simply before turning to discuss something quietly with the rest of who Azlath could only assume were his generals. She would surely get punished, perhaps put into that brutal fighting ring. And though she called it brutal, she couldn't help but admit that she often watched the fights, intrigued to see the skill levels of the prisoners. Azlath straightened up as the Prince turned back around, eyeing her in interest.   
"We have a proposition for you." The blue one stepped foreword to speak, and Azlath now recognized her voice as the one that had originally threatened to open fire if she did not state her name.   
"We wish for you to be a part of our ranks, you clearly have unattended skill that can be sharpened and honed, but in return we want to know everything about what the Druids and Haggar are doing with the quintessence." She looked down on Azlath with a brow raised. Azlath had to resist the urge to show surprise on her face. This could be the opportunity she'd been looking for. For once in her life she would be no longer held down by Haggar, no longer bound to the main ship.   
"What if I don't know enough to please your desires?" Azlath asked skeptically, she was only an assistant, her knowledge on the quintessence was scarce.   
"Any information you can give us should be enough." She shot back, taking another step foreword.   
"If you don't comply we'll be sure to tell Haggar about your leaving and sneaking around, she can take care of your punishment." Azlath narrowed her eyes and sneered a bit.   
"I never said I wouldn't tell you, no need to threaten me." She hissed out, now more uncomfortable than she was before.   
"Apologies." The blue one said simply as she awaited Azlath's reply. It took a moment, but Azlath took a deep breath and loosened again, going back to a more neutral stance.   
"I haven't got much information on the quintessence. But when Lord Zarkon was still up and moving around, I know they used in to help him search for the Black Lion, I occasionally oversaw those sessions. Otherwise, I know they're collecting it, and storing it. Nothing more, nothing less." Azlath admitted, keeping her arms pressed to her side.   
"Well then." Lotor finally spoke again as he smirked and looked back to the other Generals.   
"What's your name?" He requested, moving foreword, past the blue General and holding out a hand.   
"Azlath." She replied as she tentatively shook his hand, fully confirming the deal that they had made.   
"Welcome to the team, Azlath."


	4. Chapter Three

Though Azlath had agreed to the deal, she found herself wondering if this was partially to spite Haggar, since as she had noticed earlier, there seemed to be some sort of negative tension between the Prince and the Witch, and even though Azlath knew it wasn't her place to care if it was, she was still curious. Azlath had found herself being led somewhere by the blue one, whose name she learned as Axca. She had apologized for being standoffish, and explained that they would have to get armor for her, but for now, Azlath could use one of Axca's older armor sets. Though Azlath didn't find herself being buddy-buddy with Axca, she was relived that the General had apologized, and found herself slightly more comfortable around her. The pair's booths tapped quietly on the ground as they walked to their destination, Azlath decided to break the silence with another question.   
"You introduced me to you yourself, and I heard the Prince call one of the others Zethrid, but who are the other Generals?" Azlath requested as they walked, looking over to Axca, Azlath kept her helmet tucked under one arm.   
"Ah. Yes, we did neglect to introduce you, didn't we?" Axca seemed to think aloud.  
"The one with the cat, that's Narti, the cat's name is Kova. She's blind, but the cat allows her to see through its eyes." Axca explained, looking over to Azlath.   
"That's... intriguing. How does it work?" Azlath inquired.   
"We aren't sure. Going off of what I've heard, the cat was High Priestess Haggar's, so it probably has something to do with her magic." Axca admitted, turning to look at the hall ahead again.   
"The other one is Ezor. She's rather upbeat, but she does her job well." Azlath merely nodded in response, returning her gaze to the hall ahead as well. The two fell back into silence as they walked, Azlath taking in the hall around her when Axca suddenly stopped.   
"These are my quarters, if everything goes to plan I'm sure you'll get your own soon enough." Axca said blandly as she pressed something on a pad outside the doors, causing them to slide open with a hiss as she beckoned Azlath to follow her inside. Azlath stepped into the room quietly, tempting herself to be polite and not look around, but in the end she couldn't help it. The room was relatively bland, not much covered any inch of it. The bed was neatly made, and the only other things in the room was a desk with neatly stacked papers, a board that hung above it with more papers hooked to it, and a target on the wall that seemed to have multiple holes shot through it. There was a hook towards the back of the room that held mostly the same uniform, only a few things on it seemed to be something that wasn't a uniform.   
"Here." Azlath was snapped out of her thoughts when Axca spoke again, holding out the uniform to her.   
"Oh. Thank you." She took it gingerly, it was heavier than it looked, not to mention it looked a lot more complicated than the armor she was wearing.   
"I have to go do something." Acxa looked down at her wrist as she got some sort of alert.   
"I'll be back to collect you." She promised as she left the room, turning back the way they came. The uniform was actually two separate pieces, one was the under layer, the other was the armor that covered the chest, arms, and legs. Azlath unhooked her own armor, setting the helmet down on the ground. Azlath slid into the under suit, admittedly, it was a tad small for her. While Axca's body was certainly lean, Azlath was full Galra, so she was a bit bigger and less lean. But either way, it would fit for now. Once the body suit had been zipped all the way up to her neck, Azlath noticed the strangeness of the shoulders. Certainly padded, almost a strange design choice, but she could see how it would help keep the outer armor in place, so perhaps not as strange as it seemed. With that, she began by sliding the thigh and knee armor up her leg. The knee plate was attached to the thigh armor with a stretchy material with an area to pin the material to the boot. Sliding the boot on, she found interest in the boosters that seemed to be on the calves. She clipped the boots the the knee piece and moved on to the chest plate, sliding the two hinged pieces over her head and then snapping them back together. And then, the forearm and elbow piece. The elbow piece clipped directly to the under suit and the forearm gauntlet, and both went on without trouble. She looked down on the armor for a moment before being interrupted.   
"Oh, you got it on! Cool!" This voice sounded more chipper than Axca's, and Azlath turned to see Ezor. The girl stepped into the room and made her way over to Azlath.   
"Axca sent me to fetch you, I'm Ezor." She explained enthusiastically before making lightly.   
"I'm Azlath, but you already knew that." She smiled gently, waving back a bit before folding her hands behind her back.   
"You already look like you fit in, come on and I'll take you to the main control room." She beckoned before jogging lightly out into the hall, leaving Azlath to jog slightly and catch up.   
"I've never had any experience in anything like this... how is this going to work?" Azlath asked, already feeling more comfortable with Ezor than she had felt with Axca.   
"You'll probably shadow one of us for a little bit, but you really were an impressive pilot." Ezor reassured as they continued to walk, turning down a few more corridors, Ezor continuing to spew nonsense while they walked, Azlath only chiming in once and awhile to add. Soon they had reached what Azlath immediately recognized as the main control room. Towards the head of the ship was Axca, tapping and swiping away at the hologram screen. It made sense that she'd be at the head, based on what Azlath had seen, Axca certainly acted as the Prince's right hand man, or woman in her case. Narti stood off to the right at another screen, tapping away on that one as Zethrid stood behind her, seemingly toying with the cat that stood on Narti's shoulder. As they progressed farther into the room, Azlath saw the Prince sitting in what seemed to almost be a throne in the middle of the room, looking out at the stars from his lazy position in the large chair. Azlath turned as Ezor stopped and Lotor looked over at her.   
"Ah, you're here. Good. Gather around everyone." The Prince turned to look generally out at his last command. Narti and Zetrid turned to look before gathering over, and Axca tapped a few more things on her hologram screen before swiping it away and walking over with her arms crossed behind her back.   
"First of all, as soon as we're done here, Axca, set course for the main ship. I'd like to let Haggar know that her little assistant has been promoted." He looked over and shot Azlath a wry smirk, at which she furrowed her brows a bit. Though she certainly admitted, she was a bit excited to see the look on the old hag's face when she finally left her.   
"Secondly, you're clearly new at this. And though Axca would seem like the proper one to have you shadow, I do believe that having you shadow Ezor will suit you better." Ezor smiled from next to Azlath and slung an arm around her shoulder before leaning in.   
"Awesome! We'll make the best team, just you wait." She exclaimed, Azlath looking over and letting go a small smile. She had to admit, though there had been Druids she had been acquainted with, she already felt more comfortable around the other generals here, almost like they were more willing to accept her.   
"Though I myself do wish to expand on your piloting skills. So be prepared for that." The Prince warned, narrowing his eyes a bit.   
"How do we know how she is in hand to hand combat? Surely you can't expect Ezor to teach her everything." Axca shot back, looking over to the two before returning her gaze to Lotor.   
"Of course. You'll all get the chance to evaluate her, we'll get a better idea of what she's good at that way." Lotor replied calmly, clearly used to Axca's quick wit and comments. Axca seemed to take the answer well and merely nod in response.   
"Set course for the main ship." He demanded at Axca casually before leaning back again.   
"Come on! I'll show you how to man my station." Ezor grabbed Azlath by the arm and tugged her over to the left side of the room, tapping a few buttons before bringing up a screen.   
"The Station's main purpose is to track and find enemy ships, Narti does the same thing as me, Zethrid is in control of all our firepower, and Axca is the mainframe. Not only does she do all the same jobs as us, but she also controls the ship." Ezor explained.   
"I have minor knowledge of these types of trackers, they use ultrasound technology, do they not?" Azlath asked, stepping foreword and taking it upon herself to enlarge the square containing the track map, which was currently blank.   
"Yep. Pretty easy. Just have to watch out for things around us and track things we put trackers on. There also different codings you can put in, but we don't need them right now. So I'll show you those later." Ezor told Azlath as she continued to swipe around the tracker map, checking out various things that she would mark as debris or rock, later explaining that she was checking for things large enough to be detrimental to the ship or its crew. Easy enough, though Azlath wondered if this would be her job in the main room, especially since two others already did the same thing. But then again, she supposed that it wasn't up to her, so she merely observed Ezor work and did the work on her own every now and then. Of course, it wasn't long before they reached the main ship again, they'd hardly been far away from it anyways. Ezor directed Azlath to begin getting rid of ships that identified as Galra so they wouldn't clog up the track map as they got closer to the main ship. Ezor seemed to wander away to go check something with Axca while Azlath worked quietly, not even paying attention to the docking of the ship and the familiar nature of the main ship closing in around her.   
"Azlath. Lets go." Came the short command from Lotor as he stood from the throne in the middle of the control room. Azlath quickly swiped the screen she was looking at and turned, ready to go.  
"Ezor, tail us from behind, we need to have an invisible third incase Haggar tries something." Lotor demanded before beginning to walk, Ezor and Azlath staying close behind. As they reached the exit of the ship, Azlath broke off from Ezor and walked up next to Lotor as to allow Ezor's presence to remain unknown. Soon they reached the ground and began on there journey to find Haggar in relative silence.  
"Do you have any combat experience?" Azlath nearly jumped as she heard the Prince speak.  
"Not really, I was never given the chance to learn any." She admitted, keeping a straight face as they continued walking.  
"You worked with the Druids, surely you must've learned something." Lotor spoke again, only sparing Azlath a glance.  
"I mostly learned about magic that I don't necessarily have, Galrans don't have enough magic to do what the Druids do." Azlath explained lightly as they turned a corner and passed some sentries.   
"And what did you learn that wasn't part of that 'mostly'?" He pressed the question, clearly not giving up until he got an answer.   
"Minor healing, minor levitating, and minor shocking. Nothing extreme, Galran magic is easily wasted." Azlath gave in, taking care to keep her gaze steady ahead.   
"I see. I trust you'll tell me more later?" The Prince asked, though it seemed like more of a command then anything.   
"If you really want to know, then I suppose I could." Azlath responded calmly, though she indeed got the feeling that this was information he wanted for something more than just wanting to know.   
"Is there a real reason we're going to Haggar instead of sending her a message, or did you want to rub it in her face?" Azlath finally looked over as she asked what she'd been wondering bluntly. She observed the Prince grow surprised for a moment before flashing another one of his wry grins Azlath's way.   
"Perhaps I did bring you here to rub it in the witch's face, but you can't deny that you want to as well." Lotor shot back. It nearly sounded like he was joking around with her, something Azlath hadn't imagined hearing.   
"I guess I can't." She finally replied, continuing to walk down the halls as they fell back into comfortable silence. It wasn't long before they were finally approached by Haggar herself, tailed by a Druid that Azlath, rather ironically, recognized as Xerux.   
"Prince Lotor. What brings you here with the assistant I've been looking for." She eyed the two suspiciously, though Azlath could sense the curiosity radiating off of Xerux.   
"Actually, your little assistant is the reason I'm here." He replied calmly, looking down at Haggar with a brow raised.   
"I had been told by Xerux that Azlath was no where to be found, why is she wearing your generals armor and being tired along behind you?" Haggar hissed angrily, taking a step foreword as if to show Lotor she was not intimidated.   
"She's promoted. She has unused skill that I find could be rather useful, she's already begun to fit in well with the rest of my team. You don't need her here, so I'm taking it upon myself to actually put her to good use." Azlath didn't need to look up to be able to tell that the Prince had an enormous smirk on his face, clearly entertained by the prospect of agitating the high priestess.  
"Did you plan on asking me if you could take one of my underlings?" Haggar hissed aggressively, Xerux seemingly remaining neutral in the back, though Azlath could tell he was intrigued.   
"Of course not. I'm in charge now after all. I'll take what I want." He chuckled a bit, though it was more of a chilling sound then anything else.  
"Starting your reign by doing rather useless things, aren't you?" Haggar shot back, looking skeptically up at the Prince from under her hood.   
"I don't think shes very useless, or else I wouldn't have promoted her." Lotor slung an arm around Azlath's shoulder, which was rather out of character based on what she had seen from him before.   
"We'll leave it up to you. Would you rather come with me or stay here with the High Priestess?" Azlath took it upon herself to step foreword and away from his arm, standing in front of Haggar with a frown etched into her face once the Prince had finished talking.   
"I've been given an opportunity that I cannot ignore, to request to remain your assistant would be foolish, especially after how I've been treated next to the rest of the Druids." Azlath began, growing a bit of disdain as she went on.   
"Though I may have learned a bit about magic and quintessence, my time with you has been utterly useless. Not to mention that it made me useless as well." She finally spat out, relishing in the scowl Haggar now wore.   
"I've been offered a position that will put me to use, so no, I will not be remaining for assistant." Azlath looked down on Haggar for a moment, almost daring her to challenge what she had said, but Haggar remained silent.   
"You got your answer. Azlath, let's go." Lotor finally spoke again, seemingly regaining his professional, demanding posture. As he turned away and began walking, Azlath stood in place for a merely moment, glaring at the High Priestess before turning and walking after the Prince, ready to serve under a much more useful job title.


	5. Chapter Four

The next few days were full of information being fed to her, making it so she could live up to her full potential on Prince Lotor's ship. Ezor was actually a pretty good mentor, despite her outwards appearance and activity. She was chill enough to make the work enjoyable, but professional enough to make the others realize she knew what she was doing. Over all, Azlath rather enjoyed being able to work with her, it was certainly more entertaining then she imagined it to be. All four of the generals seemed to be pretty close and comfortable with each other, more like a tight-knit family than anything else. Azlath hadn't exactly been welcomed with open arms by any of the generals other than Ezor, she had been tasked with gaining their respect, which she found didn't take long after all. Azlath found that Narti had been the first to acknowledge and accept her after Azlath merely spoke to her normally. Perhaps, Azlath assumed, her gain of trust from this may have been a product of mistreatment in other areas due to her mute and blindness, though Azlath never bothered to ask. Zethrid had also been remotely easy, as soon as Azlath had pointed out something about the weapon station as she walked past, Zethrid had spun around, and rather excitedly asked if she already knew how to run Galran weapon stations. With this, Azlath had replied 'only partly' and then been tugged into being shown how Zethrid's station worked. It was quite a bit more interesting than she would've thought. Now Axca was the only one Azlath had trouble with. The two seemed to have the most in common out of all the generals, and yet Axca and Azlath remained weary of each other. Azlath only saw her chance when one day, Axca spoke up.   
"Sir, I do think Azlath has had quite enough time training at the station. I'd like to test her combat skills." Axca turned from her own station to look back at the Prince, the rest of the generals only turning their heads to glance over.   
"Yes... I do suppose so." He reasoned, drifting off into thought for a moment.   
"Ezor and Zethrid, you two take control of the ship then while Axca, Narti, and I go to the training deck." The Prince demanded rather casually before standing from the throne and walking off one of the side hallways, Axca following close after.   
"Good luck!" Ezor patted Azlath on the back with a smile, Azlath merely chuckled quietly before falling into step alongside Narti.   
"Hello, Narti." Azlath said simply, catching Narti's nod in greeting out of the corner of her eye. Now, Azlath was remotely nervous about this, after all, the only combat training Druids had was in their magic, and Azlath didn't have any of that. Sure, she was originally being set up to be a solider as a child, but that wasn't exactly combat training. Azlath knew Axca was skilled, why else would she be so important in their small hierarchy? But Narti was far off of Azlath's radar, she had no idea what she could do. But clearly, once again, she had been excepted onto the team, and therefor must have some sort of ability to hold her own. On the other hand, Azlath severely hoped that she wouldn't have to fight the Prince, that was one battle she had absolutely no chance of winning. Azlath kept her gaze ahead as they walked, would she be kicked off the team if her combat wasn't up to standard? Probably. That single thought kept her determined. Azlath knew she'd have to use a lot of instinct to make her way through this. She halted when the Prince and Axca did, opening a door to a training deck she only vaguely recalled being shown to her by Ezor. Stepping in, it was a rather moderately sized room. The entire ship was already a pretty decent size, not large nor small, and the training deck seemed to replicate that. Not large at all, but certainly not tiny.   
"Do you have any previous training?" Azlath turned as the Prince spoke to her.   
"Not much." She replied simply.   
"Merely stationary gun shooting, typical children's training." Azlath informed, watching for a reaction.   
"Very well. We'll test your shot later, for now, hand to hand." He seemed to decide quickly before turning to nod to Narti.  
"You'll face Narti then, she excels in hand to hand." Azlath backed up a bit, moving to stand on the opposite side of the room, watching Narti move carefully. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Prince and Axca step back to lean on the wall, but Azlath eventually returned to placing her full attention on Narti. Kova had seemingly hopped off her shoulder, probably to creep towards the side of the room somewhere if Azlath had to guess. Azlath felt her legs tense, keeping her knees loose as she studied Narti, who seemed to be doing the same thing. Azlath only had a mere second to contemplate attacking first when Narti was suddenly above her, sending one clawed hand striking down at her. Taking quick note of Narti's tail, Azlath kept low and leapt forward, grasping the fellow generals tail and pulling Narti foreword with her. Letting go at the last minute, Azlath heard a satisfying thunk as she rolled into a standing position, ready to trap her. But Narti was much quicker than that, and had already wrapped the previously grabbed tail around Azlath's ankle, pulling her to the ground unceremoniously. Azlath let out a small hiss of anger before realizing that once again, Narti was above her. Yet this time, she was trapped under Narti, who now had one clawed hand wrapped securely around Azlath's neck. Summoning some of that same magic Azlath typically used to heal herself, she grasped Narti's wrist tightly, digging in as much as she could with her claws, and then proceeded to distribute a weak shock the assailant's body. Though among the Druids, her electricity was considered weak, Narti jolted for a moment, stiffening just enough to allow Azlath to easily push her off and hop to her feet with some amount of grace. Narti was immediately after her again, tail and all. It was a lot to block, and most of the time she didn't. Azlath now had a single scratch down the length of her face, nothing she wouldn't be able to fix later, but bothersome nonetheless. At last, Azlath got an idea that might atleast be moderately successful. Grasping one of Narti's wrists as her hand flew out at her, she shifted to the side and twisted said hand behind Narti's back. Of course, Azlath had forgotten about her tail, and just as she felt it wrap around her ankle again, she loosened at the sound of the Prince's voice.   
"I've seen enough." Immediately Azlath let go of Narti and felt the tail retract away from her leg. Narti turned and nodded, tapping a finger gently on the scratch she had created as if to say sorry.   
"It's fine, nothing to worry about." Azlath reassured before turning to face Axca and Prince Lotor, who now stood infront of them.   
"I didn't expect you to beat Narti, but you admirably did better than I thought you would. Take that away from this if nothing else." Lotor spoke absentmindedly before gesturing to Axca as she held out what seemed to be a sort of pistol to Azlath.   
"As I mentioned earlier, I want to see how good your shot is. There are already targets on the other side of the room." He pointed to the opposite end of the room. Taking the gun, Azlath turned to look at the wall. Sure enough, there was about five targets pinned to the wall, similar to the one that had been in Axca's room.   
"You may start when you're ready." Came the quiet demand from Lotor. Azlath took a deep breath before raising the gun, narrowing her eyes as she focused in on the targets. First target was to the side, only a few lines off from the middle. Same to the second and third target. Luckily, Azlath was pretty spot on when she shot at the fourth and fifth target. When she turned and held the gun back out to Axca, they all merely seemed to be watching in mild intrigue. Axca took the gun easily, replacing it to where it had come from before Lotor spoke again.   
"Now I must admit, watching you attempt these things is amusing, but I do with to see you excel again. Let us head to where the ships are docked." He flashed one of his wry smiles before glancing to Narti.   
"You may return to the hull, I've nothing more for you to do." The Prince informed before beckoning Azlath and Axca.   
"Come along now." Axca stepped into stride and walked alongside Lotor, keeping her arms tucked behind her back as they walked quietly, only sharing the occasional words. On the other hand, Azlath trailed behind quietly, merely observing the halls around her that were beginning to become familiar. When they finally arrived at the hangar, Lotor stopped and turned again, Axca watching critically.   
"You've never flown a three sixty blaster, correct?" He questioned, deep voice echoing off the walls of the hangar.   
"No sir, only typical Galran fighters." Azlath answered calmly.   
"When I open the hangar doors, you and Axca will have a high stakes race, going around the nearest planet and back whilst attempting to hinder each others ability to return." He explained, gesturing in the general direction they'd head.   
"Axca may fly the other three sixty blaster we have here, you'll fly my ship." The Prince turned to watch the two generals as Azlath moved to Stan up next to Axca.   
"Is it really the best idea to put your ship in her hands, sir? Not that I doubt your flying ability-" she apologized as she turned to Azlath.   
"But it might be safer for the ship if-" Axca was cut off.   
"I saw how she flew the Galran fighter, I have faith that Azlath will be fine." He replied sternly before stepping aside.   
"Get to your ships then." He waved them off casually. Azlath walked over to the ship calmly, though she couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of flying a nicer ship then what she usually did. She looked up at the ship for a moment, recalling that the last time she had seen it was when she had rode on top of it rather foolishly. In a few quick movements, she had made it inside and observed the heavily shaded glass trap her in. As soon as her hands gripped the handles, the hologram displays flashed to life, lighting the cockpit with a slight purple. The cockpit lit up as the hangar door began to open, and due to Azlath's adrenaline, it seemed that it was opening far too slowly. As soon as it was open far enough, Azlath pushed on the handles, immediately finding that she wouldn't need to push too hard to get a decent speed. She was soon out in open space, and after hearing the sound of Axca's ship behind her, Azlath pressed harder on the handles and felt herself go flying. Though she didn't press on full speed yet, she wanted to see if she could fool Axca into thinking she was already going full speed, though it was a slim chance that it would even work. Azlath sharply veered as she heard Axca begin to fire, getting the alert on the hologram map to her left. Though she hadn't thought to be offensive, Azlath knew she certainly couldn't let herself be backed into a corner. In the far off distance, she could see the planet they would have to turn around. Azlath studied the controls as she weaved in and out, away from Axca's firing.   
"Three sixty... what's three sixty about this ship?" She thought aloud before realizing.   
"The wings!" She exclaimed. Azlath recalled the wings being able to maneuver freely when she'd been chased down. With a quick scan on the control screen, she set on the auto-lock for the cannon blasters, and then began to carry out her attack. Dipping slightly, she put on a hard break, Axca immediately flying over head with what Azlath could only imagine was just a bit below full speed. The minute Axca flew over her and into the tracker's range, the ship began firing. Though Azlath certainly had to give Axca some credit, the general was dodging quite well, but not well enough. A solid blast to the other ship's wing sent it careening off course, though only left a smoldering mark. Azlath pressed on the handles and pulled sideways, turning off the auto lock as she shot past Axca in a smooth arc, keeping the twist for a few more moments before leveling out the ship and flying straight again, keeping her speed just a bit below full speed. The planet was getting closer by the tick, but Azlath could feel Axca gaining on her. Soon, the shots began again, but now Azlath merely focused on dodging them, now focusing on getting a reading on the planet they'd be passing. After a quick reading of it, Azlath was pleased to realize that there was a gravitational pull on the planet, but a bit concerned that the readings showed it was a stronger pull than most. Either way, Azlath knew what she had to do. Finally pressing on the full speed, Azlath reached foreword and diverted all power to the thrusters. Far off stars blazed past her in white streaks as she finally hit peak speed, Though Axca's bullets still shot at her, Azlath's dodging became less frequent as she neared the planet. Soon enough Azlath pulled back on her left handle, sending the ship into a smooth turn to the left, beginning to descend into the planet's atmosphere. Over the roar of the ship's engine she could just barely hear Axca's engine fade away, clearly taking the safe route of merely flying around the planet. But just as she had done when Lotor first chased her, Azlath planned on using this planet's gravitational pull to her advantage. However, as she had predicted and ignored, the gravitational pull of the planet was pulling her in much faster than she would've liked it to. Azlath gritted her teeth and gripped the controls hard enough to feel the sharp nails on her fingers touch her palm with a slight prick. Finally, Azlath rotated the wings so the thrusters were below her, and pressed on the handles, flying out of the planet's atmosphere with immense speed and shooting past Axca as she readjusted the wings so the thrusters were directly behind her once again. Now that she had enough speed to be a safe distance ahead, Azlath allowed herself the liberty to get a bit more fancy with her dodging, now ducking and swirling around the shots being fired. This ship was certainly more mobile than a regular Galra fighter, it was a smooth ride. Finally, Azlath slowed as she descended into the Hangar once more, Axca following quite a few ticks after. Azlath took one more chance to study the interior of the ship before opening the tinted glass and hopping out of the ship, feet touching the ground firmly. Some mock clapping was heard from the far end of the hangar, and Azlath looked up to see the Prince, the sound of Axca's feet hitting the floor only barely reaching her ears.   
"Quite an entertaining performance, I must say." He spoke smoothly as the clapping ceased, Azlath and Axca walking towards him.   
"I must say, I would've never thought of using a planet's gravitational pull to enhance a ship's speed momentarily. It's a stroke of genius, I'll have to apply the technique if the moment ever arises." Axca spoke in near awe as they halted infront of the Prince, looking over to Azlath with a brow raised.   
"My choice to do it then was risky, the planets gravity was enforced and if I hadn't ever done it before, I probably would have avoided doing it then. I could teach you how to pull off the move if you'd like." Azlath offered, nodding her head respectfully at the other general.   
"Of course. You are truly an impressive pilot." Axca accepted, holding out her hand for a handshake, and as Azlath took her hand and shook it once firmly, she could tell that it was a sign of mutual respect, something the two hadn't shared before.   
"There's definitely room for improvement, but you've certainly proved yourself valuable today. I speak on behalf of the entire team when I say we look foreword to have you working with us." Lotor spoke again, Azlath being caught off guard as he smiled gently. Azlath couldn't help but smile back, perhaps a bit wider than he was, but this had certainly changed her life for the better.   
-  
Azlath had eventually returned to her room for the night, in the hull of the ship she had been warned she'd be given control of her own station tomorrow morning when she arrived, though she was still unaware of what it was. The Galran had spent her time struggling to sleep before realizing that it was not meant to be. She paced her room, unsure of what to do. Typically if this unfortunate event had happened to her back on the main ship, she would've merely gone and flown around for a bit. But she couldn't do that here. The ship was on autopilot, so there was nothing for her up in the hull, and she didn't have any other duties yet, she didn't have anything to do. So Azlath did the only thing she could think of, go to the training deck. Though as she approached the deck, she heard the clashing of metal and the grunts of whomever was inside. Wanting to get a better listen to determine who was inside, she quietly walked toward the door and pressed her ear against it, remembering too late that the doors were automatic. They opened, leaving Azlath to stumble into the training deck before the doors closed sharply behind her.   
"Oh. It's just you." Azlath looked up quickly and caught Lotor lowering his sword slowly.   
"What are you doing here?" He asked sharply, eyes narrowed.   
"I uh... couldn't sleep so I thought I'd try to work on my fighting and... y'know..." She started strong, but slowly her sentence turned into a mumble, and eventually trailed off quietly.   
"I couldn't sleep either." His answer was sudden, surprising Azlath that he had even replied at all. Azlath found herself standing awkwardly in the silence, staring hard at the ground before looking up again.   
"You said you've never fought with a sword, didn't you?" Lotor questioned from where he was standing, blade pointed down at the ground by his side as he looked over.   
"No, I haven't fought with a sword." Azlath admitted, tilting her head a bit as Lotor walked over.   
"Alright. Then let's train you to fight with a sword." He replied casually, holding out his own blade to the general in front of him.   
"Your Galran, so it should be light enough for you to hold with one hand." Lotor spoke generally as Azlath carefully took the sword from his hands, studying how her clawed hand looked grasping the grip before lowering the blade so it's tip pointed towards the ground.   
"Are you sure?" She asked, looking back over to the Prince.   
"Perhaps I should use a different weapon." Azlath offered, gesturing for him to take the sword back.   
"No, this will be fine. If you managed to not crash my ship, surely you can handle wielding my blade." He reassured calmly before letting go a wry grin.   
"Besides, I rather like how powerful you look wielding that blade." Azlath narrowed her eyes as her ears pressed back in embarrassment.   
"Whatever." She mumbled shortly in reply as he chuckled a bit. Though her embarrassment soon faded as Lotor began instructing her how to wield the blade properly, and before she knew it, it was nearly time to return to the hull for the day.


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

The majority of the night had been spent swinging around the heavy blade, and eventually switching out the weapon for a spare and jousting with Lotor. Though of course, Azlath lost by a landslide. Either way, the night had been very informative, and Azlath had to be convinced to go rest for the few hours she had left. Azlath had been eager to learn more, and she still was. The blade had been satisfying to swing, and she truly had felt as if she learned a lot. Her walk to the hull of the ship had been relatively silent, with only the light tap of her shoes echoing off the interior halls of the large ship. A few automated sentries passed her, their heavy metal feet clanking on the ground, but nothing more than that. When Azlath finally arrived at the hull of the ship, It was occupied by Axca and Narti, and that was it. Unsure of what to do for a moment, since the Prince had told her she'd be taking over her own station today, Azlath eventually wandered over to Ezor's station and began marking the debris and checking the map, the room silent save for the slight beeps and blips that sometimes emitted from the screens. Soon enough, Ezor and Narti walked in together, Ezor holding the skip in her step that she usually had. The bright alien jogged up to stand besides Azlath, slinging an arm around her shoulders enthusiastically. 

"Great news, you don't have to work the map anymore!" Ezor exclaimed. 

"Oh, what am I working then?" Azlath questioned, looking over to the other General. 

"It's so cool, come look!" Ezor took a firm grip on Azlath's arm and tugged her over to the middle of the room where a large table sat, Azlath identified it as a large hologram tracking and planning map, that instead of needing a things to be personally tagged, would automatically tag flying crafts on its own. 

"You get to keep track of enemy ships, and map out the battle plans we're given, and map courses." Ezor patted Azlath on the back with a smile.

"It used to be one of my jobs, the Prince decided to hand it off to you because he assumed you'd be better suited for it. If you need any help working the table, just ask me." Axca spoke to Azlath as she glanced over her shoulder from her place at the hull of the ship. 

"I'll make sure to remember that." Azlath replied simply before looking down at the table. Pressing a hand to the identification pad, the map flickered to light, showing the star systems and planets. According to the map, no spacecrafts were around them, and Azlath trusted that it was accurate.

"Ah, I see Ezor has told you about the map?" The Prince finally arrived, walking in from one of the side halls and moving to take a seat on what Azlath could really only describe as a throne.   
"Yes sir." She replied, glancing over. 

"Good. Set a course for Puig, we have some Lions to lure out." He spoke smoothly, the grin on his face speaking for itself. Azlath studied the systems for a moment before selecting Puig on the map and generating a course, sending the coordinates to Axca at the front in a few quick swipes. Azlath found herself enthralled by the new map, the stars were all labeled along with the planets, it was simply amazing. 

"Descending into the atmosphere." Azlath looked up as she heard Axca spoke.

"Good, we're right on time. Axca, you may take over from here, I'll man the ship." Lotor stood from his place and switched spots with Axca as she began to walk away, the other generals tailing behind. 

"Azlath." She stopped abruptly and turned as she heard Lotor speak.

"You'll be going on the ground, you need a weapon." He spoke confidently, eyes narrowed. From what seemed like pure will, the sword he usually wielded appeared in his hand with a dull flash, it seemed to be connected to the arm pieces on his suit. 

"Sir, there's no need, I'm sure I'll do just find with my fists." Azlath shook her head as he held out the sword again.

"Once its in your hand, it will connect to your suit, take it, and make sure to return it when you're done. That's an order." He demanded, shoving the sword in Azlath's direction. Hesitantly, she took it, and was surprised when it disappeared in her hand after she willed it to.

"Hurry along now." Lotor spoke casually as he turned to steer the ship again. Azlath rushed down the halls, making it to the hangar just on time. As she lined up next to the rest of the generals, she looked down at the ground below. With a simple nod of Axca's head, they all jumped. Azlath was surprised to find herself falling through the air, not entirely sure how to stop herself before she hit the ground. The rest of the Generals seemed to have their own way, so Azlath figured she'd have to figure it out on her own. She set her sights on a building ahead and threw her weight foreword, summoning the sword and gripping it in her hand, feeling the boosters on her calves turn on as she shoved the blade into the stone building, eventually slowing down to a complete stop, Azlath willed the blade away, and fell to the ground easily. Soon a voice came in through the earpiece, nearly startling Azlath. 

"Ezor, find the leader. Narti, Zethrid, Azlath, take prisoners. Kill no one." Axca's voice came through clear as day with her orders. This was Azlath's first mission of sorts, and she knew she couldn't screw this up. She began her trek through the streets, careful at first, but soon she realized that she was the threat, she didn't have to be careful. So she summoned the blade to rest comfortably in her hand, and she strut through the middle of the streets like she owned them. But they did own them now, these people were weak without them, that's why she was here. When the sound of gunshots rang out from above and to her right, Azlath found herself instinctively raising her arm, and surprisingly, though she supposed it was a bit lucky, she managed to block the energized bullet with the blade. The action stunned those on the rooftop, causing them to lock up in surprise. Azlath took this time to jump up the building, using windowsills to anchor her footing as she jumped up. A quick whack to the back of the head for all of them left them unconscious, an easy job if ever there was one. Azlath jumped down the side of the building quickly, keeping the blade gripped in her hand in case she needed to hook it into one of the empty windowsills. When her feet hit the ground, she was surprised by the call of Zethrid from afar. 

"Azlath, go long!" She cried out, Azlath turned just in time to see a Puig resident flying through the air towards her, a gun gripped tightly in their shaking hands. 

"Got it." She replied before sidestepping, swinging the blade down just in time to slice the gun clean in half, leaving the Puig resident to slam to the ground, knocked out by the impact alone. Azlath turned to look at Zethrid as she ran up. 

"Have you got anyone yet?" She asked, towering above Azlath with her hands on her hip. 

"Yep, up there." Azlath replied, gesturing to the rooftop she had just been on. Zethrid seemed to nod in approval before looking down at Azlath's hand. 

"Isn't that the Prince's? You didn't steal it, did you?" Zethrid seemed to get serious towards the end, narrowing her eyes. Azlath was surprised at how serious she got, it wasn't something she often saw. Azlath shook her head gently, holding up her hand and allowing the blade to disappear, leaving her hand empty.

"The Prince let me borrow it until I get a weapon." She explained as she lowered her hand again. 

"Oh. Well-" Zethrid was cut off by the sound of Axca's voice coming through the ear piece. 

"The leader has been pin pointed, make your way to the top of the mountain." Her critical voice sending out the directions like a seasoned professional. With a quick glance to Zethrid, Azlath took off running, Zethrid following close behind with ease as they weaved through the streets. Once they made it to the base of the mountain, they reconnected with Narti, and the small mountain gave them hardly any trouble as they made their way up it. Azlath wondered what they'd do from here, sure, they had taken the planet back at this point, hadn't they? So what was the course of action? Most likely something she didn't know about, but if she had to guess, she assumed it would have something to do with Voltron. Lotor and Axca seemed to be waiting for them once they reached the top. 

"Good job everyone, we've nearly finished." The Prince seemed to give moderate praise before continuing. 

"Narti, Zethrid, you two know what you're doing next." He nodded to them, Azlath noted that Narti replied merely by waving her tail. 

"Azlath, take the pod I took down here back up to the main ship, it needs a pilot, and I need you to start looking for the lions on the main map." Lotor turned to demand to her. 

"Understood." She replied simply, nearly turning to leave before remembering. The sword she had borrowed appeared in her hand as she held it out.   
"Thank you." Azlath said simply as he took the blade back, it disappearing in his own hand. 

"You're quite welcome. Now run along." Lotor seemed to smile gently, something that wasn't full of malice like it usually was, and turned around, beckoning the other generals to follow him into the cave. Azlath turned to lightly jog to the pod she assumed Lotor had taken down here, it was branded with his colors, so she doubted it could be anyone else's. Climbing into the pod, she quickly piloted it back to the ship that she assumed was on auto pilot, docking and jumping out. Azlath could understand why she wasn't needed below, it was clearly a job that was more centered around what Lotor was going to say, and just as she had suspected, this was ultimately a plan to lure out the lions. Her feet tapped on the floor as traversed the halls to get to the hull of the ship. The few automated sentries she passed were clearly fulfilling their duty, though that's what they're meant to do anyways she supposed. As Azlath finally made it to the hull, she hesitantly walked over to where Axca typically stood, bringing up the controls to reassure that they were set to the right course. The autopilot seemed to have them stuck going straight, and with an observation of the land, Azlath decided it would be better set if they were hovering. With a quick few taps of the screen, the large ship was set to hover over the small town intimidatingly. Casually walking back over to her own station, Azlath activated the large map and turned on the location sensors, searching for enemy ships on its own. Just as she was about to begin searching for previous locations, the large hologram screen above the main controls flashed to life, Lotor showing up with a smirk. 

"I'm surprised you haven't taken this free time to try out sitting in my throne." He seemed to chuckle, looking down at her with a brow raised as Azlath heard Ezor yell;

"I did that once!" In the background.

"I would consider that disrespectful, sir." Azlath replied, tucking her arms behind her back.

"Well you should do it right now so I can see-"

"Sir. We need pick up." Axca interrupted from the side of the screen. 

"Ah, yes of course. Land the ship near this location." Lotor seemed to recover from being cut off and tapped a few things on his own screen, once he was done, a ping came up on the small map that was now at Axca's station. 

"Of course. I'll be there momentarily." Azlath reassured.

"Wonderful!" He replied, the hologram screen his face had previously been on disappearing. Azlath made her way over to the main controls again, quickly figuring out how the ship flew. Since it was so big, instead of having manual controls, you had to insert the destination coordinates, and you could then tweak your flight to be specific with a finger oriented pad that showed up on the hologram screen. Landing the ship was a command that was already inserted into the ships command base, so it was an easy task to land it. With a quick command to open the hangar doors, Azlath stepped away from the station, willing to let Axca take it over again. Looking back at the throne, she remembered what Lotor had said. They were boarding now... but she'd still have time right? Besides, she'd blame it on Lotor for putting the idea in her head if anyone caught her. Walking over to it carefully, she sat down on the large chair. Azlath had to admit, it was pretty satisfying to feel like a queen in a throne that had some actual control. She savored the feeling, but was abruptly brought to her senses at the sound of footsteps towards the end of the hall, quickly she got up from the throne and returned to her station at the large map just as the rest of the generals and the Prince reentered the room, going to their own spots as the Prince sent out another command. 

"Set course for the Daibazzal ruins." He commanded shortly, sitting back down. Azlath quickly found the coordinates on the large map, sending them to Axca. She assumed she might be a bit slow, since she was new at this, but Azlath assumed she'd get better with time.   
-  
The ruins looked dangerous, if Azlath was being completely honest, but even then, she was in awe. This was the original home planet of her species, the planet destroyed by King Alfor. Azlath had to suppose that this planet was one of the reasons she fought in this war. If Alfor hadn't destroyed her planet, Azlath would be able to live here and appreciate their culture. Perhaps even have a normal childhood, with her mother and brother still here, and maybe then her father wouldn't have left and went off to go die 'valiantly' as he would've called it. It sparked rage in her soul, that's for sure. Azlath was snapped out of her own thoughts at the sound of Lotor speaking.

"Ezor, what can you tell me about the underground organization we found out about?" He asked casually, watching as the other generals seemed to come and circle around the large map in the center. Azlath found herself being amused at the sight of Zethrid toying around with Kova. 

"The poor little Blade of Marmora's defenses are spread so thin, they cannot defend any of the insurgent planets." Ezor replied, though Azlath took note of an edge to her voice that made her sound boarderline out of character for her typical upbeat self. 

"And what if the Rebellion?" Lotor inclined his head slightly to glance at Zethrid. The General turned after finally giving Kova whatever it was she had been holding.

"Crushed." Zethrid replied proudly, grin etched into her face. 

"As for the whereabouts of the Voltron lions?" Axca turned to Azlath with a brow raised. Azlath nodded in understanding before turning back to the large map. 

"We've had reports of Yellow and Blue in these sectors, Green here, and red around these planets. The black lion is nowhere to be found." Azlath answered, watching the indicators for each of the Lions pop up as she spoke, hovering stationary in the spots she had observed earlier. 

"It's like it just vanished." Ezor shrugged with a lazy grin, glancing at the other generals for a moment before returning her gaze to Lotor. 

"No black lion, no Voltron." Lotor concluded before taking a pause, soon beginning to speak again. 

"Our plan is going smoothly, Narti, return to the planet Puig and have a little chat with their leader." Lotor commanded with a wave of his hand, the generals dispersing away from the map and Narti walked quietly away.


End file.
